The Sydney Trip - Part Two B

Monday

Walking... and more walking!

So we lost our tour guide today, Naz had to do some work. So it was up to us to entertain ourselves, there was the option of going to Bondi Beach but is was a bit grey and was threatening rain... so instead we headed into town. I had the intention of going to the Old Mint (this was actually closed on Mondays unfortunately). Next door, however, is the Barracks where the prison immigrants used to be housed.

Before entering we debated about going in and had set a limit of $12 per person, it was $10 so in we went. The place was well laid out, the first room showing some of the original features of the Barracks building, the next room contained information about the lives of the prisoners who lived there, including clothes and shackles to try on (perfect for the kids).

Other rooms showed models of the building through history, the barracks had also been used as an asylum and government buildings before becoming a museum. My favourite rooms were in the roof where they had recreated the living space of the prisoners (row upon row of hammocks), I would mention that if you dislike heights don’t look down between the floorboards! 3 Stacey stars (didn’t take long to get round).

We continued wandering aimlessly around the centre of Sydney, passing by the Royal Botanical Gardens, taking a closer look at the Opera House and revisiting the Rocks, then the rain started.

After a change of clothes we headed back out as we had to be at the Sydney Harbour Bridge ready for our Bridge climb at 7.10pm, so a quick dinner was had at the Rocks Cafe (gnocchi for me, burger for Andy – yummy) before doing some more walking up to the bridge (walking was a rather large part of the day!).

So the climb... starts with a breathalyser, then form filling, a boiler suit, waterproof trousers (as raining), locker visit to drop off all possessions, belt, head torch, rain coat, then a choice of... hankie, hair band, hat, gloves... then a practice climb of a small ladder, followed by headset. Ok an hour later and you are finally ready to walk that Bridge.

It was a good experience, anyone who knows me knows that I am not keen on heights (the worst bit was the ladders to get onto the bridge, you don’t have to do this with all climbs, there is a lift, which I used on the way down), but once you are on the bridge it feels really secure and the views are great. We met a couple of Melbournians on the climb who were very friendly and made sure we were next to them, you can’t swap places on the climb as you are attached to a steel cable via the belt.

It was late by the time we had finished, so we caught a taxi back (I couldn’t walk another step).

More to come... hopefully the last of the Sydney trip!